A new rate request from Jersey Central Power & Light could mean higher electric bills in New Jersey, with a typical residential customer paying more than $170 extra over a year.
What's happening?
Patch reported that JCP&L asked the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to approve a $253 million increase in base distribution rates along with a separate charge connected to $476 million in deferred storm expenses.
If regulators approve the request, the average customer's total bill would increase by about 8.5%, while residential customers would see roughly an 8.8% hike.
The outlet noted that for a typical residential customer using 767 kilowatt-hours of electricity and paying $162.30 per month, that would amount to about $14.23 more each month, or $170.76 a year.
Though the proposed base distribution rates are scheduled to take effect May 6, the company said residential customers would not see the impact then because it plans to use offsets that would push those bill changes to January 2028, according to Patch.
The filing arrived after Gov. Mikie Sherrill, on her first day in office, authorized the BPU to pause proceedings involving utility rate increases and cost-recovery requests.
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Why does it matter?
The plan would recover deferred storm expenses over 10 years through customer bills.
JCP&L said base delivery rates cover poles, wires, storm restoration, and other delivery costs, according to Patch. The outlet also reported that the company invested $1.5 billion in capital improvements and said that reliability rose 15% in 2025 compared with 2024; that figure is 38% in 2026.
While the utility is looking to manage the increase, customers will shoulder the load. As costs of other necessities also rise, that adds to the strain on households in the state.
JCP&L defended the rate hikes as necessary and referenced affordability and reliability.
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"Our balanced approach puts both front and center simultaneously by minimizing the impact on bills today and giving customers time to plan while continuing to invest in the infrastructure needed to deliver safe, reliable service for generations to come," said Doug Mokoid, president of parent company FirstEnergy's New Jersey division, per Patch.
What's being done?
According to Patch, JCP&L structured the filing so residential customers would be insulated from changes to base delivery rates in 2027, even if those rates will formally take effect in May.
The utility said this approach would ease the short-term impact while allowing it to continue upgrading the grid. The outlet noted the filing supports another $2.1 billion in base distribution investments as part of a five-year, $6.9 billion capital plan.
Patch reported that JCP&L said increasingly frequent severe storms had pushed its deferred storm costs to $476 million before early July storms. Trees remain a major cause of outages across its 3,200-square-mile service area.
The company said ash trees have accounted for 60% of tree-related outages since 2020 and that it had removed more than 74,000 dead or diseased ash trees since 2017, according to Patch.
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